El Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas (CMLL 10/06/00)

Santo is back in CMLL and I will always take a dose of these two against each other. I wouldn’t say this was worked in a hateful manner but it was certainly chippy at points most notably when Santo does his tope and hits Pepe Casas. There was also an interesting development early on with Shocker extending an invite to Tarzan Boy to join him in the rudo locker room. Overall, this felt like a first fall to a great match but I will take what we can get. The Olympics airing has kind of derailed CMLL a good bit based in what we have seen lately and having Santo back can only be seen as a positive. ***1/4 (6.6)

So we didn't get Casas vs. Wagner, which could've potentially been some of the best stuff of the year, but we do get Casas vs. Santo, which even when it isn't special is still kind of special since it's Casas vs. Santo. The work here is excellent. If this had been a three fall match with the focus on Casas and Santo instead of the angles that dominated the bout I have no doubt that it would have been a classic and one of the best matches of the year. As it was, you won't see too many lucha tournament finals that are better than this.

From a booking standpoint, they actually got a lot done with this segment. They began sewing the seeds for the Santo and Casas tag team and the feud with Los Infernales and they continued to lay the groundwork for Tarzan Boy's heel turn. The only problem was that they did it in the middle of a fucking Santo vs. Casas match. In real time, Santo absolutely nailed Scorpio Jr with his tope. And the post-match saw everyone fighting with each other as no-one could seem to make heads or tails of who was a rudo and who was a tecnico. This was pretty much the CMLL equivalent of a RAW main event. Disappointing if you seek this match out on paper but fun to watch in the context of the year's television.